Saying Goodbye To The Dummy

Wednesday, 31 August 2016

When Emily was born we decided to let her have a dummy, much
to the disapproval of some of her grandparents. Both me and Sam decided that if
it made her happy, we were fine with her having it - no big deal. When the day
come to ditch the dummy, we would manage. Well we have now reached that point;
it was time to ditch the dummy. I had kind of geared myself up for this massive
fight, Emily has had a dummy every night for as long as I can remember. I
figured she'd miss it, kick off and we would spend our whole night constantly
getting up trying to settle her. However, it was the complete opposite, she
wasn't even bothered.

About 4 months ago, we were shopping in gap, and Emily fell
in love with this brown jellycat bunny in the small size. I tried to put it
back, but she persisted and I figured it would just be easier to give in and
let her have this bunny. Problem was Emily already had 2 pink and 1 purple/blue
jellycat bunny at home. I figured brown bunny would be loved for about a week
and then would sit with her other bunnies untouched. Well, I was wrong about
that too. Bunny has become a member of the family; Emily will not go to sleep
without her 'bun-bun'. Bunny comes on all our adventures and she is distraught
without him.

You’re probably thinking, why on earth is she telling us
about the bunny, this is about the dummy. Well they are kind of connected,
since Emily had developed such a strong bond to bunny, I started giving her the
bunny when she hurt herself instead of her dummy. Whenever she was sad or tired
she would reach for bunny instead of dummy. It was as if the dummy was getting
forgotten. At first it did make me a little sad, my baby is really growing, but
then I began to realise now would be a great time to get rid of it all
together.

I did wonder if perhaps it would be a little much for her
all at once, a big girl bed, and no dummy, but actually the bed seemed to
distract her from the fact that her dummy was missing. I thought she would
struggle to get to sleep or settle herself without it, but in fact it’s the opposite,
she actually wakes up less and is content to just have bunny. It's been two
weeks without her dummy now, and she hasn't once asked or looked for it. I kept
one spare in my bag just encase we really needed it, guess it is me that is scared
to say goodbye completely.

So my advice, if your trying to say goodbye to the dummy,
replace it with another comfort and distraction is your best friend!

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I'm Steph, 20-something year old Mama to Emily (3years) and Isabelle (6Months). You can expect all things parenting, with a little bit of baking, crafting and sensory play thrown in for extra measure. Join us on our adventures.